Bellow in the Valley

                                                            Chapter One

                        The Letter

 

 

 

         Mara Smith peered out of her office window. The city below was unusually quiet for a Tuesday night. She thought it could be due to the power outages the city had been having the last week. One night the city had been in a black out for three hours. No one seemed to know the direct cause and it worried her because there had been other strange events over the month and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was at the grunt of what was going on.

            Within the first week she arrived home from Ukraine odd things started. The city had a hail storm in the middle of July, three fire hydrants burst and flooded the streets, dogs and birds seemed to stop barking and chirping, tonight there was rain that seemed to not make a sound on the roof and the scariest part for her was the letter that she held in her hand.

            The letters she had been receiving weekly from a man named Van Horne. They were hand written in perfect penmanship on old thick paper she couldn’t place. There was a blood red wax and seal with his initials VH. She had to admit she was impressed by the fine details he put into the letter writing, but was in fear knowing that there was no stamp or return address.  All she knew was that this was the last letter, announcing he finally arrived and they would soon meet.

            She wanted to report him as a stalker to the police but figured it pointless because she had no idea what he looked like or if he was even real. What could the cops do to stop someone no one had ever seen or heard of, that only wrote letters that seemed threatening? So she decided to deal with the situation herself. She hoped that it was a sick joke from one of her staff or friends, but everyone she has asked genuinely said that they did not know about letters to her.

            She knew that she would have to leave work soon; she had already procrastinated leaving by two and a half hours. She was tiring of going through film and prints. Of course, on the night it rained she didn’t drive her car and had no umbrella.  It normally did not bother her to walk, she generally loved the rain and didn’t mind soaking her clothing. But tonight she feared every dark corner; fear there would be a scary man jumping out behind a tree or car. She knew she had seen too many horror films at this point. She replayed Friday the Thirteenth over and over in her head till she laughed out loud.

            Just as she was about to leave the phone rang. She jumped, startled at the late call. She hesitated to pick it up but curiosity got the better of her, “Mara Smith’s office.”

            “Miss Smith, The man said, “I am glad I caught you.”

            It took her a minute to recognize the voice, “Mr. Talon?”

“Yes, my dear! How are you?”

            Mara looked at the clock 10:45. She wondered why he was up so late on a school night. He was a college professor who double majored in ancient civilizations and history. He was a pure genius in his craft.  He had been writing a book about Europe’s unsolved mysteries from medieval times to the 20^th century.” Why are you calling so late?”

            There was a pause on his end, she could hear shuffling and breathing. She wondered if he was the man that was stalking her.  The dropped the idea, it was ridiculous. “Mr. Talon?”

            “Sorry, had to adjust my hearing aid.” He went on, “I tried to reach your cell but there was no answer and I had to get a hold you, sorry for the late hour. I just got back from my Europe trip and I found something that you might want to see.”

            “What is it, exactly?” There was a pause.

            “It is a painting of Van Horne.”

            Mara froze. She had completely forgotten that she asked Mr. Talon if he could research the name Van Horne while abroad.  He had become her friend as she was a historian herself as well as a freelance photographer.  He had accompanied her on her first trip to Europe to write and photograph historical castles. It had been four years in the making and her last trip was to Ukraine where she ended her, Castle’s Around the World trilogy. The first two books had already come out.

            It was there that she had stumbled upon a castle that she had never heard of or seen. The locals did not speak about it or give her any information. They only told her that it was evil and had been abandoned for years, anyone who stepped foot on the grounds became cursed. It was rumored that it was once filled with the undead. Other than that there was no history, not from people or the library. There were no records on file of anyone that lived in the castle.

            “Mara, did you hear?” Talon asked. “It’s the real deal as they say!”

I came across it only two days before I left. I had been asking around as you had requested and a lady had told me that the Van Horne’s had lived in the castle for Three generations. The family kept to themselves and one of the sons had been accused of vampirism. The villagers at the time acted out fear and killed the wrong son. The family fought back by killing the villagers that had killed their son.”

            Mara revealed at the news. It was shocking that she would have a story behind the castle for her book after all. “What happened in the end?”

            “It was terrible.” Talon sighed. “The family killed everyone in the village. And the bodies were found hanged with…wait for it…bite marks on their necks.”

Author's Note

I have to add more descriptions and add where parts seem too fast. Please feel free to give my feedback.